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If you want to understand Obama's economic plan, read this

Okay, two disclaimers, and two requests:

Disclaimers

1) This is long. Really long.

2) This is based on an interview with Obama. So it's essentially his own economic plan in his own words, expounded by the reporter. Thus it is, of course a favorable view of it. Now, whether or not you agree with it or think he'll be able to effectively execute it if he takes office, those are separate questions. But, it is Obama's economic plan as he intends to enact it, in a rather big nutshell.

Requests

1) If you want to respond to this, please read the entire article first, so that everybody taking part in this discussion is starting from the same information. After that, if you want to refute, criticize, debate, etc., go for it. Just do read it first, if you will.

2) It would be great if a conservative/Republican poster could create a similar thread about McCain's economic plan. If someone did, and we wanted to merge them into one big thread about both, or keep them separate and discuss them independently of each other (a bit hard to do imho), we can.

Great article. I think it will probably take some flack for being a New York Times piece, but it gives a pretty good idea of which way Obama is planning on going with his economic plan.

Higher taxes on the wealthy, drastic cuts in the middle class (deeper than McCain), investments in the public good (health care, infrastructure, education, energy), and yet he's placing supreme emphasis on the market (and I'd add, free trade).

That's my type of economic plan. It's along the same lines of the plans that Thomas Friedman outlines in "The World is Flat," except he does it from a more global perspective. I know, I know, I bring up Friedman's name a lot, but I really like him.

A fantastic article. I've never wavered in who I supported in this campaign, but lately it has been discouraging. I am feeling reinvigorated and excited again. If people can actually take the time to read this article, I think it could do a lot of good for Obama. If there were one quote from the article that would get the most mileage from the average voter, it would be this:

For the bottom 80 percent of the population — those households making $118,000 or less — McCain’s various tax cuts would mean a net savings of about $200 a year on average. Obama’s proposals would bring $900 a year in savings. So for most people, Obama is the tax cutter in this campaign.

This is why I HATE McCain's ads claiming Obama is going to raise taxes. While he technically IS raising taxes on some, he is lowering them a great deal more for many others. As far as I am concerned, if the American people were to simply vote based on who is the better President for their personal tax situation, Obama would win in the largest landslide victory in American history. 99%-1%!

The thing that makes me feel optomistic about an Obama administration is that he's not surrounding himself with yes-men or people that have been working the political system for years.

He's surrounding himself with field experts; people that have done the research and understand how to interpret the evidence. They realize the possible fallbacks and see that the rewards outweigh the risks. And, these experts aren't strictly liberal or conservative; they're a hybrid - or synthetic - of multiple fields of theory. I guess to term it in a different manner, they're a "New Way."

Obama certainly wasn't my first choice, but I'm behind him. Maybe I'm being too ideologic, but Obama has a wonderful opportunity to do great things with this country.